Aryan
Americannoun
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Aryans
plural
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Ethnology. a member or descendant of the prehistoric people who spoke Indo-European.
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(in Nazi doctrine) a non-Jewish Caucasian, especially of Nordic stock.
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(formerly) Indo-European.
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(formerly) Indo-Iranian.
adjective
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of or relating to an Aryan or the Aryans.
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(formerly) Indo-European.
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(formerly) Indo-Iranian.
noun
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(in Nazi ideology) a Caucasian of non-Jewish descent, esp of the Nordic type
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a member of any of the peoples supposedly descended from the Indo-Europeans, esp a speaker of an Iranian or Indic language in ancient times
adjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Aryan
First recorded in 1785–95; from Sanskrit ārya “of high rank” (adjective), “aristocrat” (noun) + -an
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Aryan said Najib had denied the charges against him and showed "no remorse".
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Aryan Simhadri, who portrays Percy’s best friend Grover Underwood in the series, spoke out last year about an unsettling encounter with a handsy fan when a group of “40 drunk college girls” recognized him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
Prominent Aryan Germans, by contrast, faced a moral dilemma: to stay in Nazi Germany or leave.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026
"But it's only as good as one season, so the negotiations are not a done job," said Pankaj Bedi, CEO of United Aryan in Nairobi.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
Von Rumpel’s particular gift is for diamonds: he can facet and polish stones as well as any Aryan jeweler in Europe, and he often spots fakes at a glance.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
"Iran," however, is rooted in the word "Aryan," meaning "Land of the Aryans," and has been used locally since the Sassanian era to denote the broader realm of the Persian empires.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2024
Around 1000 B.C., however, minor kings who wanted to set up territorial kingdoms arose among the Aryans.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012
Over the next few centuries, Aryans extended their settlements east, along the Ganges and Yamuna river valleys.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012
Unlike the earlier inhabitants of the Indus Valley, the Aryans had not developed a writing system.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012
Of these Aryans who came thus rudely upon the scene of the ancient civilizations we will tell more fully in a later section.
From A Short History of the World by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
